苛

kē
#3,089 most
frequent character
severe, exacting

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

苛 has 艹 (vegetation, plants) as its meaning part and 可 kě as a sound part. It first meant 'small grass.' The meaning 'severe, exacting' was borrowed for its sound, not from the plant shape.

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Homophones

HSK 4
棵kē
"classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc"
HSK 5
颗kē
"classifier for small spheres, pearls, corn grains, teeth, hearts, satellites etc"
HSK 6
磕kē
to tap, knock
科kē
subject, family, section
柯kē
(literary) branch, stem, stalk

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